1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for orienting a curved workpiece at a workstation. In particular, the invention relates to an apparatus for presenting a curved surgical needle blank at a work station in a predetermined orientation during needle manufacture.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
The manufacture of surgical needles involves many processing steps to transform the raw needle stock into a highly precisioned surgical needle product. Some of these processes include straightening, cutting, shaping, grinding, boring, pressing and coating operations.
Presently, surgical needle manufacture is carried out at a series of workstations. Each station is equipped with appropriate machinery to perform the desired process on the needle blank. The equipment presently used for needle manufacture requires a relatively high degree of manual intervention to operate the apparatus as well as to present and orient the needle blank with respect to the operative components of the equipment.
Recently, emphasis has been placed on automating the manufacture of surgical needles. The benefits of automation are readily apparent, i.e., increased productivity and a decrease in the number of rejected units. However, attempts towards automating needle manufacture have not proved to be as successful as initially envisioned. This is particularly attributed to the inability of design engineers to develop manufacturing equipment which can position and present the needle in a desired orientation relative to the operative components of the equipment without necessitating some degree of manual intervention. In particular, with specific regard to the manufacture of curved surgical needles, design engineers have been unsuccessful in devising equipment having material handling features which can accommodate the curved configuration of the needle.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an apparatus for needle manufacture which can present a curved needle in a predetermined desired orientation at a workstation. It would also be desirable to provide such an apparatus which can be readily adapted for use with a variety of needle manufacturing processes.